MARK Hughes believes his side deserved more than they got after a dull derby draw at the Reebok.

The former Wales manager has now gone nearly five hours since seeing his side score a goal in the Premiership, but was satisfied with his side's defensive performance.

Recent Georgian signing Zishan Khizanishvilli joined Ryan Neilsen in a new-look central defensive partnership that nullified the Wanderers threat throughout a dour encounter.

And Hughes believes his side could have taken the points had they put away one of the game's rare goalscoring opportunities.

He said: "I think towards the end of the first half and for 30 minutes of the second half we were the better side and deserved to win the game.

"We have come here and we knew we were going to be put under a physical challenge. We stood up to it today with a new central defensive partnership which I thought did very well. Overall, I thought we coped very comfortably with everything Bolton threw at us.

"You have to withstand the questions Bolton ask as it's a difficult place to come but I'm delighted.

"We grew in confidence as the second-half progressed and I thought if anyone was going to win the game it was going to be us.

"We are reasonably happy with a point as a lot of good teams come here and don't get anything."